Neven Subotić (, ; born 10 December 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he played for the Serbia national team.
Subotić made his professional debut in 2007 for 1. FSV Mainz 05. In the following year, he signed with Borussia Dortmund, where he spent the majority of his career, winning two Bundesliga titles. After leaving Dortmund in 2017, he had a series of spells at clubs in Germany, France, and Turkey, before signing for SC Rheindorf Altach in January 2021.
Born to Bosnian Serb parents, Subotić lived in Germany and the United States during his youth and played for the latter nation at under-17 and under-20 levels. At the senior level, he elected to represent Serbia, making his full international debut in 2009 and appearing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Early life Born in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Bosnian Serb parents, father Željko from the village of and mother Svjetlana from Brestovo, Subotić spent his early childhood in Prnjavor. In 1990, when Subotić was two years old, his father went to Germany in search of work. In 1994, with the Bosnian War raging, the rest of the family including five-year-old Neven, his sister and their mother joined their father in Germany, settling in Schömberg. Neven took up football at the age of seven with the local outfit TSV Schwarzenberg.
In the late 1990s, the Subotić family's residence authorisation in Germany expired, and in order to avoid being deported back to Bosnia, they opted to move to the United States in 1999. They settled in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Subotić's father had a cousin. Subotić played football with Sparta Gold and Impact Black youth clubs.
Within two years, the family was on the move again, this time to Bradenton, Florida, so that Subotić's sister Natalija could pursue a tennis career at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. The city also happens to be the base for the United States under-17 national team. Subotić trained on his own in G.T. Bray Park, where he got spotted by Keith Fulk, one of the American team's assistant coaches who then informed the team's head coach, John Ellinger, about Subotić. After arranging a tryout, they offered Subotić a spot in the residency camp. At the time, he was not attached to any club sides, but eventually started playing with the University of South Florida soccer team.
While playing with the under-17 team in the Netherlands, Subotić was approached by player agent Steve Kelly, who inquired about his career plans and offered the possibility of playing in Europe. After impressing at the tryout for 1. FSV Mainz 05, young Subotić was on his way there, initially playing for the club's youth and fourth-division teams (1. FSV Mainz 05 II). Subotić holds a German, American, Bosnian, and a Serbian passport.
Club career Mainz 05 Subotić made his professional debut for 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the last match of the 2006–07 season against Bayern Munich, as his team was relegated from the Bundesliga. In the 2. Bundesliga the following season, he seized a starting role in what was the league's best defence, conceding only 37 goals. The team finished in fourth place, missing the promotion back to Bundesliga by only two points.
In the 2008 summer off-season, Mainz head coach Jürgen Klopp got a job coaching Borussia Dortmund and was instrumental in bringing Subotić along with him.
Borussia Dortmund
On 4 June 2008, it was announced that Subotić had signed with Borussia Dortmund on a five-year contract. He debuted for his new club in the unofficial DFL-Supercup match against Bayern Munich, which Dortmund won 2–1. Subotić's defensive displays quickly turned a lot of heads. In December 2008, he was named in the ideal XI team of the first part of the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, alongside such defensive stars as Lúcio and Philipp Lahm. In addition to confident and effective defensive displays far beyond his years, Subotić was also a factor on the offensive end, scoring six league goals throughout the season.
In June 2009, he signed a new contract that lasts until the summer of 2014. In the 2009–10 Bundesliga season, Subotić was one of only four players in the entire league to play every minute of every league match.
On 15 December 2010, Subotić scored his first-ever goal in the European competition, scoring a header off a corner at Sevilla in the Europa League to tie the score at 2–2. The match was a decider on which of the two teams would go on from the group stage, as Borussia needed to win away while Sevilla was fine even with a draw. It ended 2–2, however, and Borussia was eliminated.
On 27 July 2013, Subotić won the 2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund 4–2 against rivals Bayern Munich.
On 27 May 2015 he signed a new contract until the end of the 2017–18.
On 1 April 2016, it was announced that Subotić would miss the remainder of Dortmund's season as he was suffering from thrombosis in his arm. On 26 June 2016, Subotić confirmed that he planned to leave the club. He moved temporarily on 26 January 2017 on loan to Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Köln until the end of the season.
At the start of the 2017–18 season, he was brought back into the Dortmund team under the new manager Peter Bosz.
Saint-Étienne On 25 January 2018, Subotić signed an 18-month contract with Ligue 1 outfit AS Saint-Étienne.
On 1 July 2019, he left the club when his contract expired.
Union Berlin On 4 July 2019, Subotić returned to the Bundesliga, in which he signed for the newly promoted Union Berlin. In August 2020, he agreed the termination of his contract which was due to expire in 2021.
Denizlispor On 18 September 2020, Subotić joined Süper Lig club Denizlispor. On 22 January 2021, the club announced that he had decided to cancel his contract unilaterally. He left having made five league appearances and scored once, the opening goal in a 2–1 away win over Gençlerbirliği on 19 October.
SC Rheindorf Altach On 1 February 2021, Subotić joined Austrian Football Bundesliga club SC Rheindorf Altach on a six-month contract.
Subotić announced his retirement in 2022.
International career
Youth level Subotić was part of the squad selected and coached by John Hackworth for the U.S. entry in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship during September 2005 in Peru. Sixteen years of age at the time, he entered all three group matches as a substitute during the final five minutes. In the quarter-final versus the Netherlands, where the U.S. team lost 0–2 and were eliminated, he played from the start but received a red card in the 73rd minute.
He has also made two appearances for the USA U-20 team. What would prove to be his last one took place in November 2006 in a friendly after which head coach Thomas Rongen criticised Subotić, who had signed for Mainz several months earlier, for "not accelerating over there to the point where we feel he belongs on the [U.S.] team." Next summer, Rongen controversially did not select him to play in the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada, picking defenders such as Nathan Sturgis, Anthony Wallace, Julian Valentin, Ofori Sarkodie, Tim Ward, and Amaechi Igwe ahead of Subotić, a decision that has resulted in Rongen receiving a fair amount of criticism. While Rongen insisted that a groin injury was to blame, there has been considerable speculation since then that Subotić was so stung by Rongen's criticism that he decided to reconsider his international future:
Full squad
Subotić was eligible to represent the United States, Serbia, or Bosnia and Herzegovina. During September 2008, when the issue of his national team eligibility first started getting wider coverage in the football media, playing for Croatia or even Germany were mentioned as possibilities as well. Both options, however, were soon revealed to be media concoctions more than anything else. Bosnia and Herzegovina fell out of the running early as Subotić publicly rejected overtures by the country's football officials and head coach Miroslav Blažević.
By late fall 2008, it became clear that only Serbia figured in his international choice. Citing sources close to Subotić's family, many reports in the Serbian press appeared about his decision to play for Serbia already being made, but waiting for the right moment to state it publicly since he had until 10 December 2009 (his 21st birthday) to declare his choice. In mid-December 2008, Subotić informed national team head coach Radomir Antić about his decision to represent Serbia. Then in late December 2008, Subotić notified the US Soccer Federation about his decision, the first official step in the process of changing national team attachment.
2010 World Cup qualifying On 28 March 2009, Subotić made his debut for the Serbia national team in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Romania in Constanţa that Serbia won 2–3. Coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for striker Marko Pantelić with Serbia leading 1–3, Subotić played the slightly altered central defensive role as Antić looked to protect the lead for the remaining 30 minutes in the crucial qualifying match. Afterward, head coach Antić was very supportive of his new young defender, comparing him to Fernando Hierro. After starting against Sweden in a friendly, Subotić's first competitive start took place against Austria on 6 June just after the end of the club season, partnering Nemanja Vidić in central defence (if only for one half, since Vidić got injured and replaced by Antonio Rukavina) — the contest in which Serbia displayed a very lethargic overall team effort and was lucky to win 1–0 after numerous defensive breakdowns. Four days later, on 10 June 2009, Subotić scored his first goal for Serbia in a fairly straightforward 2–0 win over the Faroe Islands. For the next qualifying match, at the end of summer against France, Serbia's chance to seal qualification by winning at home, Subotić got benched and did not enter the contest at all, as Antić preferred Aleksandar Luković to partner Vidić on this occasion. The same central defensive pairing started the next qualifier against Romania at home (another chance to automatically qualify with a win after failing to beat the French), while Subotić got a chance to run out for the last 15 minutes as a sub for Vidić with the score 2–0 for Serbia as it eventually clinched the World Cup spot with a 5–0 thrashing. In the last meaningless qualifier against Lithuania, Subotić played the full 90 minutes in a free role on the wing as Antić looked to experiment and try different setups without any fear of dropping points.
Though he came in with high praise and even higher hopes, Subotić's initial performances for Serbia weren't stellar. Following unconvincing defensive displays and fairly frequent mistakes, he had to deal with plenty of criticism in the Serbian press.
2010 World Cup At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Subotić was left out of the starting line-up for the opening group stage match against Ghana, with Nemanja Vidić and Aleksandar Luković the preferred choices for central defensive spots by coach Antić. Subotić's benching came as a result of his poor starting displays in the friendlies leading up to the World Cup against New Zealand, Poland, and Cameroon. During the second half of the Ghana match, however, Luković received a red card and was sent off, forcing Antić to bring Subotić into the game for the remaining 14 minutes.